Research pick: Safety intelligence - "Intelligent system for women’s safety using data science"

The safety of women is high on the social agenda with molestation, sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, and murder, being recognised increasingly. Researchers from India have reviewed the state-of-the-art surrounding technological safety solutions and highlighted gaps and limitations in the International Journal of Adaptive and Innovative Systems.

Priyanka Kohli and Kawaljeet Singh of Punjabi University in Patiala (Pb), India, explain how an intelligent system that uses concepts from the realm of data science might be used in a mobile phone that can send an alert for help if a person is in a threatening environment. Conversely, machine learning based logistic regression might be used to alert a person to a particular place representing just such a threatening environment.

The empowerment of women underpins the development of a modern society. Inequity and violence against women cannot be allowed to persist in such a community. Of course, the empowerment of women involves educating men, but information and communication technologies have a role to play in driving us towards equity, the review suggests. This may well be even more fruitful a notion in the context of the smart city.

Although a lot of women’s safety systems are already available, a more sophisticated system still needs to be developed that helps to make women feel safe when they are alone or in difficulty, the team writes. A mobile system with intelligent modes may help them out of troubling situations, consisting of modules to bring police, medical or other emergency assistance, call a friend or family member, or a combination of help, they add.

The details of a suggested smart system from the team itself would not only offer the ability to offer alerts and warnings but could be used to record evidence in a given situation. Such a system could, as social equity evolves, offer women, and others, a useful technological safety net of sorts.

Kohli, P. and Singh, K. (2021) ‘Intelligent system for women’s safety using data science’, Int. J. Adaptive and Innovative Systems, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.25–42.